[birdky] RPT: Bernheim Golden Eagles are back

From: Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx

To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 10:53:30 -0500

On Monday (Nov 8) afternoon, I was out at Bernheim Forest assisting with
some radio tracking of Silver-haired bats in the immediate vicinity of the
"Golden Eagle" area on Harrison Fork Road. Didn't have a chance to scan
much, but at one point there were three Goldens (1 adult and 2 sub-adults)
in the beautiful blue sky! I had been out there the previous week (Nov 3)
and seen nothing, although there was complete cloud cover that day and they
could have been sitting instead of soaring.
The bat work has been interesting . . . radio transmitters have been
temporarily affixed to the backs of five species of bats (red, evening, big
brown, northern and silver-haired) in the Wilson Creek valley and associated
uplands since early October. Follow-up tracking has shown that trees in the
area are being used by all five, mostly trees on upper slopes that do not
get so cold at night and that have a lot of southern exposre to the sun. The
Red bat soon disappeared (as expected) as they typically roost in the
foliage. The other four have remained roosting either under sloughing slabs
of bark or in cavities. It is usually impossible to tell exactly where a bat
is roosting, but often one can tell which tree it is in. Signals have now
died from the transmitters placed on bats in early October, but the
silver-haireds are migrants and possibly overwinter in tree cavities in the
area. They probably only arrived in early October and they were the only
species caught in netting over the creek Nov 7th. The radio signals last up
to 4 weeks, so it will be interesting to see if they remain into December.
So the next time you're down in this area, look around and picture bats
hiding everywhere around you!
bpb, Louisville
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